@danfox52 that probably why every time I restart my nodes get off? If you figure out how to keep the variable after a restart. Can you share how you did it. Thanks
Are you trying to get Alexa to rely on Node Red for the logic instead of going to cloud? She can already do dimming by a percentage and she can change colors of some brands of bulbs natively. I don't have RGB bulbs so I don't know if color applies to bulbs paired to HE.
The trouble I think you are going to run into if I understand correctly is that Alexa is going to take what you say, go to the cloud and perform some logic, then come back to you with a response/action of some kind. There is no way to stop that and have Node Red do it instead that I am aware.
It all depends how you do your flows, and variables... I don't store variables to filesystem often, and none of my flows are out of sync after reboot. BUT, I refresh all Hubitat nodes after reboot with an inject node, too....
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This is key. If you're using RBE nodes, you may consider reseting those as well when restarting NR.
@stephen_nutt Yes. As I understand it, the contrib-amazon-echo palette allows the device on which you are running node red to act like a local hub for Alexa, thus keeping the logic local. Rob from The Hook UP talks about this in the video linked below. In the video he used the node to automate a set of patio shades. If it can be done with shades, I assume it can be done with lights as well.
I watched that a few months ago and my devices were too old to be discovered. Looking at the comments, it looks like the palette has change. I believe I tried to use the old one node-red-contrib-alexa-local.
Looking at the new palette, my older devices might work. I will have to go back and take a look at this new palette and see if my older Echos will work.
The new palette definitely works.
Please look at the documentation page Working with context : Node-RED
The section Saving context data to the file-system
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I don't have an Amazon Echo Hub, only 2nd gen Dots, 1st gen Show, and 1st gen Echo. If I try to add an Amazon Echo Hub to a flow, I get "Unable to start on port 80) error message under node.
(until I broke my NodeRed server), I had Alexa ( node-red-contrib-alexa-remote2) working with 1st gen Echo and dots of all flavors.
Some of the SSML things did not work on the 1st gen dots. On the Dot G3, all (well, everything I tried) SSML options worked except, for the life of me, I could not get sound effects to work.
I watched this guy:
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I have a hue light attached to a fibaro switch, to ensure it always turns on (switch gets turned off occasionally)
Is there a better way to set the colour and temp than this?
@aaiyar pointed that flow out that a week or so ago. Using it, I was able to get a light to run just like the dots light ring and then stay on while music is playing using info coming out of Alexa Event nodes.
I am using it to copy this project:
I was disappointed in the documentation but I hadn't noticed all of the example nodes available in the GitHub so thank you for pointing out that video. I am not clear though; is this local? It seems to be because when I ask her to speak, its much faster than method I was using previously that was not local.
@stephen_nutt I ran into the same issue when running Node-Red on my Raspberry Pi. I found the workaround described below to solve the issue.
But I would still need an Amazon Echo Hub correct? I don't have one. I think node-red-contrib-alexa-remote2 does everything I want and doesn't require creating virtual Alexa devices.
I am not sure what you mean by "Echo Hub." If you mean an echo device, then yes. You do need an Echo device to which you can issue verbal commands, an echo, dot, show, etc.
I have installed the alexa-remote2 palette, but I have not had much time to experiment with it yet. It seemed to me that the two palettes accomplished different things, but I may be way off base. I will defer to others who know far more than me. If this is the case, I would also like to know. I am always interested in simplifying things. Thanks.
There is quite a bit talked about for "remote2" here in this topic. Using the search feature for that exact keyword within this topic will let you easily find stuff
There is a vocabulary issue. Your average Alexa device isn't a hub in the true definition but they have created new ones like this that include a hub.
https://www.amazon.com/All-new-Echo-Plus-2nd-built/dp/B0794W1SKP
If a device like that is not what the palette is referring to but instead just refers any Echo device, then that is my confusion.
EDIT: Sorry, i am getting this thread off topic. Back to how great the Hubitat Nodes are!!!!
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Gottcha. The palette only needs a basic echo device to which you can issue verbal commands. No device with built in hub is required. I am using it with mostly 2nd and 3rd gen dots.
YAY HUBITAT NODES! So much fun! 
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do you need to expose your amazon devices to node-red via HE echo Skill?
